Joe Medwick: Baseball Career, Nicknames & Legacy

Joe Medwick

Joe Medwick

Position: Outfielder
Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, 1932-1940; 1947-1948; Brooklyn Dodgers,1940-1943; 1946; New York Giants, 1943-1945; Boston Braves, 1945

Early in his career, Joe Medwick tried to get the baseball public to call him Mickey. Anything seem preferable to “Ducky Wucky,” the nickname given to him for his duck-like walk. Finally the sobriquet was shortened to Ducky, and Medwick eventually learned to live with it -- or at least not to fight fellow players who referred to him by it.

Medwick played for four
NL teams, but St. Louis received
most of his best work.

Joe was never one to back off from an altercation on or off the field. It was no accident that he was an instigator in one of the most famous World Series incidents. In the seventh game of the 1934 classic between the Tigers and Medwick’s Cardinals, Joe slid hard into Detroit third baseman Marv Owen. Too hard, thought partisan Detroit fans, who began to pelt him with fruit and refuse when he tried to take his position in left field at the bottom of the inning.

Finally, so much debris had been hurled onto the field that Commissioner Landis ordered Medwick to be removed from the game for his own safety. Since the Cardinals were cruising to an 11-0 victory, Joe departed without argument.

Born in Carteret, New Jersey, Joseph Michael Medwick (1911-1975) was one of the greatest all-around athletes in the Garden State’s history. He was a high school star in track, football, basketball, and baseball. After school, Joe turned down a football scholarship to Notre Dame to sign with the Cardinals organization.

His first season in pro ball, 1930, was a huge success. He batted .419 with 22 homers in 75 games for Scottsdale of the Middle Atlantic League. He then played two years for Houston of the Texas League, batting .305 with 19 homers and 126 RBI in 1931, and .354 with 26 dingers and 111 RBI in 1932.

Medwick was deemed ready to replace defending batting crown winner Chick Hafey in the St. Louis lineup late in 1932. Joe hit .300 every year from 1933 to 1942. He had over 100 RBI each season from 1934 to 1939. He reached his peak in 1936, when he led the National League in hits and RBI and set a new loop record with 64 doubles. The following year he became the last player in National League history to win a Triple Crown. Even though Medwick hit .332 in 1939, he was dispatched early the next season to Brooklyn.

Medwick played for the Dodgers until he was sold to the Giants in July 1943. Two years later, he was traded to the Braves and then released by them prior to the 1946 season. After a year with Brooklyn, Joe spent two more seasons with the Cardinals. Medwick was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1968.

Here are Joe Medwick's major league totals:

BA
G
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
SB
.3241,9847,635
1,1982,471540113
205
1,38342

See more information on the Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Baseball Hall of Fame Overview
• History of the Baseball Hall of Fame
• How a Person is Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
• List of Baseball Hall of Fame Members
• Cooperstown Lodging
• Restaurants in Cooperstown
• Baseball Hall of Fame Managers
• Baseball Hall of Fame Umpires
• Negro Leagues Hall of Fame Members
  

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